The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Q&A, discussion, and information for the labels covered by The Guitar Gallery (Specifically and exclusively guitars made by Matsumoku up to 1987)
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PostPosted: Wed 22 Dec 2021 11:23 PM 
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Virtuoso

Joined: Wed 05 Aug 2009 10:48 AM
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Location: NW Washington State
Electrakid2001 wrote:
I am disappointed that a guitar with alleged origins in Japan's "golden era" of guitar manufacturing would have such a fundamental design flaw.


I agree with Crusty, which is easy 'cause he's "da man". My favorites are Arias from about 78 to 83. I think the "golden era" value-wise was from the late 70's through maybe early 90s when good Japanese guitars became about as expensive as US made.

I bought a couple of earlier MIJ semi or hollow guitars that I couldn't set up properly and couldn't fix. Took me a while to figure out that they looked good but weren't structurally sound. Sold those at a loss with honest eBay listings.

-Steve W.


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PostPosted: Thu 23 Dec 2021 02:18 PM 
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Virtuoso
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Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
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Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Electrakid2001 wrote:
Please see update in the OP!

Oh boy, that would take a labour of love (or a lot of money to pay a luthier) to make it right eh?!
Crusty and your tech have identified the real issue here: not impact damage, no support.

There is nothing wrong with a hollow body (my Gibson ES330, the Epiphone Casino, etc) but the neck is set into the body and becomes integral with it. The neck on your model is not and is prone to act as a lever.

Bloody shame. My best suggestion is, unless you are looking for a major restoration project(!), disassemble it and salvage what is usable and perhaps employ the parts into another suitable F-hole style body. The neck looks fine and I assume the pickups and electronics are good, so have at it!

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PostPosted: Thu 23 Dec 2021 02:45 PM 
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Virtuoso
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The good thing is whatever warpage has occurred is done. I bought some wood shims at the local hardware megastore (I forget what they were originally used for though). Re-shaped them to fit the neck pocket and drilled holes for the neck screws to pass through. The action was lowered and I still had good contact between the neck and the neck pocket. There is only a small post under the bridge area so the bodies are fairly resonant.

Still not my cup of tea. I like a center block through the body of a 335 style guitar. The PE-450 I traded them for took some work but in the end worth it. Sorry I don't have any pics of the hollows or the shims.

http://www.therathole.org/guitar/projec ... pe450.html


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PostPosted: Thu 23 Dec 2021 04:25 PM 
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Virtuoso
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Nice job on the PE Neal! :love:

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PostPosted: Sun 26 Dec 2021 09:12 PM 
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Virtuoso
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Joined: Sat 12 Oct 2002 09:20 AM
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Crusty wrote:
It's unclear exactly when Matsumoku became involved with the Aria brand. Semi-hollow guitars from this period were prone to warpage, in particular at the neck joint. The later Arias quality improved drastically over a fairly short period, say about 76 or so.


According to Mr. Arai, he was the one to talk Matsumoku into guitar manufacturing. He also claims that every electric Aria guitar was made in the Matsumoku factory until they closed down.

In general the quality of all the Japan made guitars went up towards the end of the 70s (Matsumoku, Fujigen, ...). If you buy 78 and later you will almost never get disappointed (doesn't matter if the headstock says Ibanez, Aria, Yamaha, Fernandes, ...).


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